Systemic Activism in a Polarised World

The dogmatic attitude that people we dislike and disagree with are incapable of contributing to the future will only cripple our ability to engage with reality. Instead, can we be open to questioning our long-held beliefs and truly listen to diverse points of view and perspectives about systems change?

“He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion…” ― John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859

This paper introduces a number of crucial questions to clarify for the design of strategies and approaches to systems change, especially in the current political climate. It was prepared to give an impulse to the discussions at the Agora for the Great Transition, held in Paris in March 2018.